Need Seen For More Downtown Changes

June 30, 2004|By DON STACOM; Courant Staff Writer

BRISTOL — Revitalizing downtown could mean relocating the central firehouse, refurbishing the post office and giving a makeover to the rusting railroad bridge over Main Street, according to a committee planning the municipal recreation center.

The $61 million sports complex and community center planned for the site of the Mall at Bristol Centre is the key component, but a true downtown renaissance will require many other improvements, committee members said during a meeting Tuesday morning at city hall.

``We don't want to do what happened 40 years ago and scatter everybody out to Route 6,'' said state Rep. Kosta Diamantis, D-Bristol, co-chairman of the committee. ``We want to bring them back home again.''

The courthouse and the post office on North Main both draw people downtown, but several committee members said the nearby fire department headquarters isn't designed to do that. Instead, the building takes up choice space that could be marketed to retailers or other businesses, City Planner Alan Weiner said.

``That piece of property is in a prime economic development area,'' Weiner said. ``The firehouse doesn't have to be in the heart of downtown.''

The fire headquarters building is also showing signs of obsolescence, committee members said.

``The firehouse was built in 1962, but firetrucks are larger now,'' said Jonathan Rosenthal, executive director of the Bristol Development Authority. ``I believe the next generation of trucks won't fit in there at all.''

The committee concluded that the city's ongoing study of the firehouse should be expanded to consider whether relocation would be feasible.

The committee also wants to know whether the U.S. Postal Service will pay to renovate the exterior of the post office and redesign its undersized parking lot.

``The building clearly needs a face lift,'' Weiner said.

The Bristol Development Authority had planned to improve the parking lot for as much as $300,000 in local funds, but Diamantis and Mayor Gerard J. Couture said that recent discussions with federal officials had raised the possibility that federal money might be available.

Improving the railroad bridge over Main Street just above the mall site is critical to building pedestrian traffic downtown, Diamantis said. Wooden beams designed to protect the sidewalk below from falling debris appear to be rotting and may be a hazard, he said.

``It's ugly, it's worse than ugly. It's real dangerous,'' Diamantis told a representative of Guilford Transportation, which runs freight service on a route through Bristol.

Couture added that he'd like Guilford to repaint the bridge and another on Route 6, near the Plymouth line.

``They need a maintenance update,'' he said. ``You're talking about the gateway to the city.''

The committee agreed to hold its first public information session July 27 at 7:30 p.m. at city hall. Project leaders and city officials will attend to make a presentation about progress toward building the recreation and sports complex, along with related downtown improvements.